Category: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Should you find yourself in Los Angeles next week and the week after, there will be plenty of Hobbity goodness to go around. And if you are not in LA, a few of the events will be covered so that you don’t miss any of the fun.
1) First up on Monday, December 8 with Peter Jackson receiving a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This will begin at 11:30am and run till about 12:15pm. The Walk of Fame website will be live streaming the ceremony, which means everyone can enjoy it even if you can’t be here with us. For those who do decide to attend, TORn will be hosting a lunch moot at the Cabo Wabo Cantina inside the Hollywood and Highland complex. The Star Ceremonies are open to the public, but they do not allow chairs or step ladders or anything that would impede walking. The ceremony lasts for about 45 minutes once it is started and they expect everyone to clear out once it is over in order to reopen the sidewalk. Peter’s star is slated to be outside the Dolby Theater on Hollywood Blvd, so you can park in the Hollywood and Highland Complex. If you wish to attend you can check out our Facebook Event Page. Andy Serkis will be speaking during the ceremony and numerous other cast are scheduled to appear.
2) The Hollywood premiere for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will take place inside the Dolby Theater on Tuesday, December 9. The Red Carpet starts at 5pm, so do try and arrive before then. Last year’s Hollywood premiere was more of a press event and not very fan friendly, so just go into this with eyes open. Arrive early, bring lots of patience with you, be prepared to stand for a long while, bring water and comfy shoes, and be open to changing locations if security changes protocols 6 times on you. Regardless of what happens on the Red Carpet and with the screening, TORn will again be hosting a little moot in Cabo Wabo Cantina, which will be open until midnight. We do hope that we learn a few helpful hints for the Premiere at the Star Ceremony the day before, so stay tuned to our Facebook Event Page. Numerous cast are slated to attend the premiere.
One helpful suggestion for both events: If you wish to get autographs, make sure to bring with you everything you will need, including a good sharpie pen and the items you want signed. And while large posters or the Chronicles books are lovely items to get signed, you are best bringing something small and easy to carry.
3) Next up on the very busy Hollywood Hobbit tour is Billy Boyd doing a live performance and then CD signing for the new Soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on Wednesday, December 10. The event will be at the Barnes and Noble at The Grove, starting at 6pm. This will be a Wristbanded event, and they will begin to hand out those wristbands on Tuesday, December 9 at 9am once the soundtrack officially goes on sale. So, if you will be heading to the Premiere, swing past the Grove, pick up your soundtrack and get a wristband. For more details, please visit our Facebook Event Page for more details.
That’s it for next week, but then the film will be released the week after and our line parties kick into full gear.
4) Marathon Monday at the TCL Chinese theater on Monday, December 15 starting at Noon. This will be the first publicly available screening of the final film, and TORn will be there with Trivia, games and prizes for one and all. Please visit the Facebook Event Page.
5) On Tuesday, December 16 at 7pm, the TCL Chinese will hold their first screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in IMAX HFR 3D. More fun and games will ensue. For more details, please visit the Facebook Event page.
Lots of emails come daily telling us about these clips, and they are great, but I think they are intended to seem awesome for people who might not be that interested in the movie, and that isn’t many (any?) of our readers. But here they are, more clips from “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” marketing machine. We know they aren’t new to many, but just in case you missed any or need them all in once place, here you go:
ENJOY!
OUT OF TIME
WE FIND SHELTER
I’LL GO
ATTACK THE CITY
I’M NOT ALONE
Hey, there is also a featurette that is a commercial for the film in IMAX but it has a bunch of moments from the London green carpet and while you can get trailers and TV spots at the movies and on TV, this here is the internet. As part of the vast internet community, here it is:
As the lead up to this year’s One Last Party, we will be featuring images and stories from Oscar Parties past.
When “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” was first released, this staffer hosted a Line Party at the Irvine Spectrum 21 theaters, which is about an hour south of Hollywood. I had made friends with the manager the previous year during the Line Party events then, so for this second year we got even more ambitious and hosted trivia contests, a costume parade and even a blood drive. I was also able to secure the large movie banner that hung over their box office, which they had delivered to my home on mid-January. This banner measured some 50′ wide and 30′ tall and was quite bulky and heavy when folded up and presented to me. These types of banners are made by a company that custom fit them to the theater requirements and then installs them and later uninstalls them. Usually, they are professional disposed of, but in this case, I got it.
TheA month later while we are figuring out our decor for the Two Towers, One Party, we decided this banner would make for a great back drop on the stage, and that is exactly what we did with it. We had that party in the historic Hollywood Athletic Club, which had a wonderful oval room with a balcony level ideal for hanging a banner from.
The banner made a perfect backdrop, except for one problem. It was a solid canvas that did not allow for anyone to pass from backstage to onstage. So, we had to slice two 6′ slits on either side to allow for techies, guests and performers to get on and off the stage. During the party, we hosted a silent auction and one of the items was this banner. A very lucky person got to take it home the next day, after we figured out how to get it down without killing anyone. Like I said, this was not a light item to work with.
There are now 28 days left in our campaign to host a last big hurrah, The One Last Party: There and Back Again. In just the three days since the campaign started, we have already met 19% of our goal, and have received 3 pledges in the various VIP levels, leaving just 7 others for you to pick up. We’ve also taken 17 of the available 50 ‘Smaug’s Treasure’ which is actually one of the exclusive Goody Bag(gins) full of all the same sponsor items that will be handed out at the party to attendees. Please check out all of our Supporter perks, no level of support is too small. Please visit our Indiegogo campaign page for more details on how you can help make this party happen.
Ringer DCole4 from the TORn messageboards was fortunate enough to catch an advanced screening of The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies a couple of days ago.
The final film from Middle-earth is out and making impressions world-wide but for the vast majority of fans, the wait is still ongoing. To tide us over and to whet our appetites, here is a clip of Thranduil, Gandalf and the title character, the Hobbit.
That is a different character entirely from the one who faints in his own home in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Enjoy your journey as we count down the days to the film hitting wide release. Thanks to spy theElf19101730 for the heads up.
And so we come to it – the last Hobbit movie of our time…
Maybe not – but certainly this is the final film in what is now Peter Jackson’s sextuplet of Middle-earth movies. And I was lucky enough to see it today.
Here are some spoiler-free first impressions:
It is a beautiful film. So many lovely moments – great acting from our dwarf cast (who have very few lines amongst them, but who do wonderful, expressive things facially and with body language). Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Luke Evans and Richard Armitage are as fabulous as they have been throughout these films.
John Bell (Bain, son of Bard) is a stand out ‘supporting role’ in this film. There is a scene between him and his father Bard which is especially moving – it was the first scene in the film to make me cry! From the dwarves, Ken Stott (Balin) and Graham McTavish (Dwalin) both have well scripted, skilfully played scenes.
Christopher Lee is fantastic – Saruman is a force to be reckoned with in this film, even though he only appears briefly!
There are some typically over the top, ‘PJ’ moments – bits which made me roll my eyes, but which, on the whole, we’ve come to expect from this playful director. Legolas does more than shield-surfing in this movie… But when it comes to the quiet, downplayed moments, this stellar cast don’t let us down. I was moved to tears often; the scene when Bilbo takes his final leave from the company of dwarves is beautifully touching.
Howard Shore’s score is as effective as ever, and of course the production and costume design are wonderful. Is this the best of the three Hobbit movies? Maybe. I need to see it again to decide. Does it rise to the height of the Lord of the Rings movies? In places, yes. There are scenes of spectacular depth and emotion, as well as that incredible New Zealand scenery. There are CGI moments which, for me, are jarring – vast hordes of soldiers where it is all too obvious that the same CGI character is repeated multiple times – but on the whole, not so many in this film as there were in The Desolation of Smaug.
There are small things I might wish to change, but overall, this is a satisfying end to this trilogy – and a pleasing ‘lead in’ to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tonight on the red carpet, Peter Jackson asked me who would be the first person to watch all six films in order. I can’t wait to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies again; and I can’t wait to watch this film ‘in situ’ with the other five movies. It’s a worthy, emotional part of our Middle-earth journey; a three tissue film for me! We went there; we’ve come back again; and the journey has been well worth it.
Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party
We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a final toast to all SIX movies, both The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy.
We’re inviting you to join us and make it happen through our Indiegogo campaign — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies together!